Local police departments that use automated license plate readers from companies like Flock and Axon are increasingly being required to send that data to a federal anti-drug program, according to reporting from 404 Media. The program, known as HIDTA, was created in the 1980s to fight drug trafficking and now operates under the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. Public records and court documents reviewed by 404 Media show that some cities must sign agreements with HIDTA to deploy ALPR cameras at all, and that the data is then aggregated on federal servers where other agencies can search it.
404 Media reports that the data can be shared further with the Drug Enforcement Administration's National License Plate Reader Program. In Georgia, cities cannot operate license plate cameras on state rights of way without a memorandum of understanding that requires feeding data into HIDTA. The arrangement effectively gives federal agencies access to local surveillance data even when cities have tried to restrict how that data is used.
Privacy researchers quoted in the report compare the system to Hemisphere, a federal call-records database that collected more than a trillion phone records. They argue that HIDTA adds another layer of obscurity, making it difficult for the public to know who is searching the data and why. The two 404 Media pieces describe the same reporting and raise the same concerns; neither suggests any local or federal oversight body is currently monitoring the program.